Best Kept Secret - Jeffrey Archer (Clifton Chronicles #3)

I initially purchased the first three Clifton Chronicles during a crazy Kindle deal. I think the idea was to give away the first three and then get people hooked enough they'd have to purchase the follow-ons. However, if I hadn't gotten the first three together, it's unlikely I would have read past the first uneven installment. (You can read my review of the first book here). 

Best Kept Secret was another disappointment. The story is at least better written than the first book, but the plot meanders and the point of view conveniently and sporadically bounces around to the point where I didn't really care about any of the characters anymore. Additionally, the author leaves each book with a major cliffhanger which is irritating and a blatant trick to get someone to read the next installment. 

At the beginning of this book, we are left with the solution to the last book's cliffhanger, namely, would Giles Barrington or Harry Clifton be named the rightful heir to the Barrington name, lands, and title. Turns out it's Giles who is granted all that stuff (which is the best way to preserve everyone's happiness in the book). And Harry and Emma, although not sure if they are actually half-siblings, get married anyway and decide not to have any more children. They set out to adopt Emma's other half-sister, the baby who showed up at the end of the second book to wreak havoc and an early demise to Emma and Giles' father. 

So Emma and Harry move on to get married and raise their slightly ill-behaved child, Sebastian. Eventually Sebastian becomes a teenager who gets in trouble at boarding school and tries to escape punishment by agreeing to travel to Argentina on an errand for his friend's father. 

In the midst of this, Giles marries a terrible woman then divorces her after his mother leaves them nothing in her will due to the wife's terribleness. There is a will contest and everyone is sad, but it's all glossed over so much there's no real tension there. A villainy villain named Major Alex Fisher is thrown in the mix to try to take down Barrington's shipping company from the inside. 

The Clifton Chronicle villains are all bad all the time with no redeeming qualities and the heroes always triumph. It may be entertaining, but it's not great reading.

2.5/5 Stars.